We have developed a novel phase-resolved optical coherence tomography (OCT) and optical Doppler tomography (ODT) system that uses phase information derived from a Hilbert transformation to image blood flow in human skin with fast scanning speed and high velocity sensitivity. Using the phase change between sequential scans to construct flow-velocity imaging, this technique decouples spatial resolution and velocity sensitivity in flow images and increases imaging speed by more than 2 orders of magnitude without compromising spatial resolution or velocity sensitivity. The minimum flow velocity that can be detected with an axial-line scanning speed of 400 Hz and an average phase change over eight sequential scans is as low as 10 microm/s, while a spatial resolution of 10 microm is maintained. Using this technique, we present what are to our knowledge the first phase-resolved OCT/ODT images of blood flow in human skin.

We used a novel phase-resolved optical Doppler tomographic (ODT) technique with very high flow-velocity sensitivity (10microm/s) and high spatial resolution (10microm) to image blood flow in port-wine stain (PWS) birthmarks in human skin. In addition to the regular ODT velocity and structural images, we use the variance of blood flow velocity to map the PWS vessels. Our device combines ODT and therapeutic systems such that PWS blood flow can be monitored in situ before and after laser treatment. To the authors' knowledge this is the first clinical application of ODT to provide a fast semiquantitative evaluation of the efficacy of PWS laser therapy in situ and in real time.

We developed a optical coherence tomographic (OCT) system which utilized broadband continuum generation for high axial resolution and a high numeric-aperture (N.A.) objective for high lateral resolution (<5 μm). The optimal focusing point was dynamically compensated during axial scanning so that it can be kept at the same position as the point that has an equal optical path length as that in the reference arm. This gives us uniform focusing size (< 5 um) at diffrent depths. A new self-adaptive fast Fourier transform (FFT) algorithm was developed to digitally demodulate the interference fringes. The system employed a four-channel detector array for speckle reduction that significantly improved the image's signal-to-noise ratio.